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Leadership Principles They Did Not Teach You In School

Leadership involves moving people from their current position to a preferred future. This process of moving people requires certain qualities and practices from the person influencing/leading. This presumes there are qualities and practices that will not motivate others to follow your vision for a preferred future. There are some inherent laws of relationship building and influencing that cannot be ignored.

The insights in this presentation is not from a fictitious “Leadership For Dummies,” or “Leadership Made Simple In 3 Steps,” or “Leadership How To…”

There are no short cuts to leadership development. You cannot fast track your way to excellence!

Discipline sounds like a curse word at times, but it is inescapable. Leadership is a noble discipline that is not to be entered into casually or frivolously. You must be willing to accept that there are skills, techniques, and practices that require you to master if you are to become a leader that people willingly follow.

Aristotle once stated, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit!”

James Kouze and Barry Posner have dedicated their life to the study of best practices of successful leaders that people are willing to follow. Their research has spanned over thirty years and every continent. This research is not just for-profit enterprise but universally cuts across all geographical, ethnic boundaries, or faith persuasion. John Maxwell is a global influencer that has been given the title “Leadership Guru” nine years in a row by the Fortune 100 companies in the world. Kouze and Posner were mentors to John Maxwell. John Maxwell has been invited to influence the national leadership of twenty-seven countries of the world. Michael Hyatt former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers is also a global influencer in the disciplines of leadership with over one million followers.

When these principles and practices are filtered through spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting you realize that God will take truths and use them for eternal outcomes. The end result will be a spiritual leader that has a compelling eternal message that people willingly follow. So that the obvious is not ignored, I am not implying that everyone will follow. I am saying that when leadership principles are applied you exponentially increase the possibility that people willing follow you. To illustrate the importance of this material consider….

• James Dobson’s article Shuffling Deck Chairs on The Titanic still rings true. He states there are an average of 1500 ministers leaving monthly.
• Tom Rainer wrote the average length of ministerial career is 14 years from beginning to end. It is no longer a life call.
• According to Aubrey Malphurs the majority of minister’s spouses want out of the ministry if they could only find a way to support themselves and their children.
• The North American culture is becoming more and more hostile to the voice and presence of faith-based anything. We are not in Jerusalem, but Babylon.

The question remains, “How do leaders lead in a shifting marketplace?” Another church model may help, but models are not the primary drivers of leadership. Operating models are more a function of managing and not leading. A compelling vision that people willingly follow begins with the leader. Otherwise we are destined to chase models as our controlling vision instead of casting a compelling vision first, then the model.

John Maxwell has it right, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” As men and women of God that are called to be the “watchmen” on the wall of a rapidly changing cultural environment, announcing the good-news of the gospel of Christ, we must own our responsibility to become the leader that people will follow. The heart of this material will focus upon fundamental truths of leadership they did not teach in seminary or any conference for that matter.

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!